Global research priorities on COVID-19 for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health

Background This research prioritization aimed to identify major research gaps in mater-nal, newborn, child and adolescent health (MNCAH) to help mitigate the direct and indi-rect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology. Wedefined scope, domains, themes and scoring criteria. We approached diverse global expertsvia email to submit their research ideas in MNCAH and MNCAH-related cross-cutting/health systems area. We curated the research ideas as research questions (RQs) and sentthem to the consenting experts for scoring via the online link. For each RQ, the researchpriority score (RPS) was calculated as an average of individual criterion scores and rankedbased on RPS in each area.Results We identified top-ranked 10 RQs in each maternal, newborn, and child and ado-lescent health and 5 in the cross-cutting/health systems area. In maternal health, indirecteffects on care, measures to improve care, health risks and outcomes, and preventing andmanaging SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 disease were priority RQs. In newborn health,clinical characterization and managing SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 disease, mode oftransmission and interventions to prevent transmission were the focus. For child and ado-lescent health, top-ranked RQs were indirect effects on care, clinical status and outcomes,interventions to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 disease, and educationalinstitute-related RQs. The cross-cutting RQs were the effects of the pandemic on availabili-ty, access, care-seeking and utilization of MNCAH services and potential solutions.Conclusions We call on partners, including governments, non-governmental organizations,research institutes, and donors, to address this urgent research agenda.